New Delhi, Jul 14: As the Indian contingent is gearing up for the Tokyo Olympics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with the athletes on Tuesday, July 13. PV Sindhu is one of India's high hopes at the Tokyo Olympics as she had won silver medal at the Rio Olympics while being the reigning world champion in badminton.

While interacting with Sindhu, PM Modi asked about her liking for ice-cream. Sindhu said that she doesn't eat ice-cream as much as she is preparing for big competitions. "We had to control a little as I am preparing for Olympics. I don’t eat ice cream as much due to competition," Sindhu said.

PM Modi in a lighter vein said that he will try to eat ice cream with her after she comes back from Tokyo. "If I meet you after the Olympics, I'll eat ice-cream with you," PM Modi said.

Sindhu said that it was an honour speaking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi commenting on the interaction.

"It was an honour and an absolute pleasure speaking to our PM Narendra Modi with the rest of the Indian contingent. I would like to thank him and the entire nation for the continuous support and we hope to make you proud at the Olympics," she told.

The video conference was attended by Union Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Anurag Thakur, MoS Nisith Pramanik and Law Minister Kiren Rijiju along with Indian Olympic Association President Narinder Batra. Athletes such as Mary Kom (boxer), Sania Mirza (tennis), Manika Batra (table tennis), Dutee Chand (sprinter), Deepika Kumari (archery) and Sajan Prakash (swimmer) were also part of the session.

"It is an honour and privilege for every member of the contingent to get to speak to the Prime Minister before they depart for the Olympics. Our athletes will compete in 85 events in which they can win a medal," said Batra during the session.

This year India will witness the biggest ever contingent to an Olympics with a total of 126 athletes across 18 sports discipline to be participating in the Tokyo Olympics. The 69 cumulative events across the 18 sport disciplines that India will participate in are also the highest ever for the country.